Cruise Disaster: Captain Claims He Was Thrown From Ship - ABC News ABC News Cruise Ship Disaster: Captain Released on House Arrest By Brian Ross WATCH Cruise Ship Disaster: Search Halted 0 Shares Email An Italian judge has ordered the captain of the doomed cruise ship Costa Concordia be released on house arrest following his first appearance in court today after he allegedly steered the massive ship into rocks and then abandoned the passengers aboard the sinking vessel. At a press conference, one of the prosecutors would not say what 52-year-old Capt. Francesco Schettino said in his defense during the hearing, but recordings of the radio transmissions between Schettino and the Port Authority revealed today that after Schettino said he abandoned the ship, he claimed he had been thrown from it in the first place. "We abandoned ship," Schettino says in the recording. "And with 100 people still on board you abandon ship? [expletive]" a Port Authority official says in response. Then, Schettino appears to correct himself, saying, "I didn't abandon any ship...

because the ship turned on its side quickly and we were catapulted into the water." TRANSCRIPT: 'Get Back on Board for [Expletive] Sake!' The luxury cruise ship was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it struck rocks Friday evening near Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany. Rescue efforts have been ongoing, but as of Monday night, at least two dozen people remained unaccounted for. At least 11 people were killed in the wreck's aftermath. Italian prosecutors said the growing evidence Schettino was responsible for the accident, and then failed to protect his passengers. According to a published account by a cook onboard, a full half hour after the incident, Schettino was still asking for his dinner and drinks and reportedly demanded to know where his female companion's dessert was. Schettino has claimed the ship hit uncharted rocks and that he acted honorably, previously telling reporters he and his crew were the last to leave. But that's not true according to newly-released audio of port authority radio transmissions to the captain, in which Schettino is repeatedly berated for not returning to the ship. "Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge.

Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties," the port authority official told Schettino. "How many?" the captain responded. "You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need," the port authority official said. "OK, OK, I am going," Schettino said. As a captain for the Costa line since 2006, the year the Concordia was launched, the dark-haired, debonair Schettino was described as a favorite with passengers, especially women. But if it is true that he and other officers fled the ship, leaving passengers behind, it would be a clear violation of what is regarded as the first law of the sea. "The captain is the last person to leave the sinking ship," veteran cruise ship commander Capt. William Wright told ABC News.

"I find it very hard to understand how any captain under such dire circumstances would elect to leave his vessel." The Costa line said the captain was wrong to steer so close to the island, although this video from Italian TV is said to show the Concordia, horns blaring one night last August, sailing within a few hundred feet of the island -- a course the Costa line says was authorized and approved in advance. Prosecutors, however, said Schettino went beyond authorized procedure and was a reckless show-boater. "You want to screen out the risk takers," marine legal expert John Hickey said. "You want to screen out the hot doggers.

You want to screen out people who are not willing to take responsibility." Costa Concordia: Video shows 'cowardly captain abandoning ship in lifeboat before passengers' - Mirror Online News Costa Concordia: Video shows 'cowardly captain abandoning ship in lifeboat before passengers' Francesco Schettino has claimed he 'stumbled' into a lifeboat during the disaster, but new footage casts doubt on his version Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Video Loading Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Watch Next This video footage allegedly shows the moment the captain of the Costa Concordia left the stricken ship in a lifeboat before his passengers. Francesco Schettino, nicknamed Captain Coward following the disaster, has previously claimed he 'stumbled' onto the life raft accidentally. But a new video, shown at his manslaughter trial, appears to cast doubt on his version of events. The images - filmed by an Italian fire brigade team - show Schettino standing in a tie and jacket waiting to board an emergency craft.

The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off the island and capsized, killing 32 people in 2012. Evidence: Prosecutors say video shows Schettino waiting to board a lifeboat before passengers Schettino is currently on trial accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the cruise liner. The prosecution has asked for a 20-year prison sentence. He told a court in Grosseto, Tuscany that he did order an unauthorised 'salute' to Island of Giglio, but not for Domnica Cemortan, the blonde hostess with whom he was having an affair. On trial: Schettino is accused of manslaughter and faces up to 20 years in prison (Photo: Reuters) Former ballerina Cemortan, whose luggage was discovered in the captain's cabin, has been accused of distracting Schettino by being on the bridge at the time of the collision. She eventually admitted the month-long fling earlier in the trial, and said the captain was 'like a God on the ship'.

Schettino said he didn't order the ship off course 'as a favour for Cemortan' but because he wanted to 'kill three birds with one stone'. View gallery Using an equivalent Italian phrase 'to catch three pigeons with one bean', Schettino told the court he ordered the ship off course to please the ship's head waiter, whose family came from Giglio, to pay tribute to a retired ship's captain on the island, and as a spectacle for his 3,000 passengers, who he thought would enjoy the night-time panorama of the island. Schettino told the court he had been 'tormented' by 'the act of stupidity' in ordering the salute, which he said was part of the 'culture' of Costa cruises, ever since. Affair: Domnica Cemortan told the court she would visit Schettino's cabin on the Concordia (Photo: Getty Images) But the captain's defence claimed he was not responsible for the deaths of the 32 passengers and crew because none of the victims died in the actual collision.

Lawyers for Schettino argued that all the deaths happened in the aftermath of the crash, during the evacuation, as a result of problems with the ship of which the captain had no knowledge. The malfunctioning of a generator and the leaking of several compartments of the ship which filled with water, impeded the evacuation, they said. Video Loading Costa Concordia: Captain Schettino tried to 'impress' - BBC News BBC News Costa Concordia: Captain Schettino tried to 'impress' 2 December 2014 Close share panel Image copyright AFP Image caption Francesco Schettino's actions have earned him the nickname "Captain Coward" in the Italian media The captain accused of causing the Costa Concordia disaster says he sailed the cruise ship close to a nearby island to impress passengers. In his first testimony at his trial, Francesco Schettino said he wanted to give passengers a better view. Mr Schettino faces charges of manslaughter and dereliction of duty. Thirty-two people died in January 2012 after the Concordia struck an outcrop of rocks and rolled onto its side near to the holiday island of Giglio.

Mr Schettino denied rumours that he manoeuvred the ship to impress a woman who was at the helm with him at the time. Instead, he told the court that there were "commercial" reasons behind the move. Image copyright AFP Image caption The vessel lay stricken for two years after the disaster before it was towed to Genoa in July to be scrapped "I wanted to kill three birds with one stone,'' Mr Schettino said, referring to pleasing the passengers, saluting a retired captain who lived on the island, and as a favour to the vessel's head waiter, who was from Giglio. He said he had often performed so-called "fly-bys" to impress passengers. It was favourable "from a commercial aspect", Mr Schettino said. Denial Mr Schettino is being tried alone after five other defendants reached plea bargains. The prosecutor said he would request a 20-year prison term for the captain. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Francesco Schettino was promoted to captain in 2006 The ship's owners have accused Mr Schettino of making an "unauthorised and unapproved" detour from the Concordia's set route.

He has accepted some responsibility but denies the criminal charges, and says his actions after the ship ran aground prevented a much greater loss of life. He has blamed members of his own team, including his helmsman, for the crash. More than 4,000 people were on board when the Concordia hit the rocks. Mr Schettino was vilified in the Italian press after it emerged he had left the ship shortly after ordering its evacuation with hundreds of people onboard unaccounted for. His testimony comes a month after the body of the last missing victim was recovered from the wreck of the cruise ship.

Media captionTime-lapse footage shows how the ship was righted in an overnight operation Costa Concordia disaster Image copyright (C) British Broadcasting Corporation 2012 13 Jan: Costa Concordia runs aground 31 Jan: Search for bodies abandoned 22 March: Five more bodies found in wreck 24 March: Fuel removal work completed 21 April: Salvage contract awarded to firms Titan Salvage and Micoperi 15 Oct: Capt Schettino appears at court inquiry 2013 3 Apr: Largest support platform in position 9 July: Captain Schettino goes on trial 20 July: Five senior crew members convicted of manslaughter 17 Sept: Ship rolled upright in 'parbuckling' operation 2014 14 July: Refloating operation begins 27 July: Arrives in Genoa for scrapping Costa Concordia wreck: Search of cruise ship abandoned - BBC News BBC News Costa Concordia wreck: Search of cruise ship abandoned 31 January 2012 Close share panel Media captionFire brigade spokesman Luca Cari says it is not safe for divers inside the ship Italian divers have abandoned their search for bodies inside the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concord

ia after conditions underwater deteriorated.

"We have definitively stopped the underwater search inside the ship," a spokesman for the fire brigade on the island of Giglio said. Fifteen people are still missing after the ship ran aground off Italy on 13 January with the loss of 17 lives. Work to recover the capsized vessel may take up to 10 months. Italy's civil protection agency, which has been overseeing rescue efforts, said it had contacted families of the missing and the foreign embassies involved, to explain its decision. Emergency crews would continue to inspect the part of the ship that is above the water line and use specialist equipment to check whether there could be any corpses on the sea bed, it said. The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says the decision will add to the anguish suffered by families of those missing. Fire service spokesman Luca Cari said instruments monitoring the movements of the ship showed that it was no longer safe for divers. "The indications we received two days ago... have led to a new analysis of the situation. Therefore, the data has been studied by the scientific committee and this has led us to believe that it is no longer possible to work inside." He said work would continue in dry areas of the ship.

"Our rescue workers are still able to work there, so they are continuing the search. And we are also carrying on with the underwater search outside the ship," he said. Fuel challenge Divers have described tricky conditions inside the ship, with submerged cabins and tilted corridors filled with rotting debris. Image caption Searchers have been lowered on to the ship by helicopter Dives have been limited to a maximum of 50 minutes, making it difficult to penetrate far into the vessel. At the same time there has been constant concern about the stability of the wreck, perched on a rocky ledge close to deeper water. Work to pump out more than 2,300 tonnes of diesel from the ship has been hampered by bad weather. The operation to move the ship itself cannot safely begin until the fuel is removed. The 114,500-tonne ship ran aground on rocks with more than 4,200 people on board only hours after leaving the Italian port of Civitavecchia. It hit rocks after being steered by its captain, Francesco Schettino, to within 150m of the tiny island of Giglio.

According to Italian media, the captain told investigators he had decided to sail close to Giglio to salute a former captain who had a home on the Tuscan island. Captain Schettino is under house arrest in his home town of Meta di Sorrento, near Naples, while his actions are investigated. He is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. He denies the allegations. Costa Crociere, which is part of the world's largest cruise ship operator Carnival Group, has offered uninjured passengers 11,000 euros ($14,500; £9,200) each in compensation, on condition that they drop any legal action. However, a consumer group and two US law firms are filing a class-action lawsuit in the US, demanding at least $160,000 for each passenger on the ship. Inside the wreck of sunken cruise ship, Costa Concordia | Daily Mail Online e-mail This underwater video shows the haunting interior of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner nearly two and a half years after it sank off the coast of Italy.

Italian police have released footage of the stricken cruise liner which struck rocks and sank off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, killing 32 people, in January 2012. The video, taken by police divers, has been released just days before salvage workers attempt to re-float the 950 foot vessel and tow it to the northern Italian port of Genoa where it will be dismantled and sold for scrap. Scroll down for video Italian police have released footage of the stricken cruise liner which struck rocks and sank off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, killing 32 people, in January 2012 The eerie footage shows the abandoned ship submerged in water and gives a haunting insight into the last moments of the luxury cruise liner which struck rocks with more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board.

A total of 32 people drowned in the tragedy which occurred on January 13, 2012 The video, taken by police divers, has been released just days before salvage workers attempt to re-float the 950 foot vessel and tow it to the northern Italian port of Genoa where it will be dismantled and sold for scrap The eerie footage shows the abandoned ship submerged in water and gives a haunting insight into the last moments of the luxury cruise liner which 4,200 passengers and crew fled after it struck shallow rocks. However, while thousands managed to flee the stricken ship, 32 passengers drowned in the tragedy and captain Francesco Schettino remains on trial for charges of mass manslaughter and abandoning ship. The 52-year-old faces allegations that he was showboating to onlookers on the holiday island before the ship grounded and has been accused of holding 2am trysts in his cabin with Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan, despite being a married man.

RELATED ARTICLES Mariah Carey sings during billionaire's granddaughter wedding Footage by police divers as they survey the ship shows mangled furniture, upturned possessions and the remains of what was once a £372million luxury cruise liner Books, papers, clothing, flowers in a vase and staircases can all be seen in the haunting underwater footage which comes just days before the ship is towed to Genoa While thousands managed to flee the stricken ship, 32 passengers drowned in the tragedy and captain Francesco Schettino remains on trial for charges of mass manslaughter and abandoning ship Footage of the sunken Costa Concordia shows possessions strewn among the wreckage including clothing, packaging, books and papers Footage taken by them as they surveyed the marooned ship shows mangled furniture, upturned possessions and partial remains of what was once a luxury cruise liner. Books, papers, clothing, flowers in a vase and staircases can all be seen in the haunting video, as well as the shells of shops and cafes which were once at the heart of the ship. The video footage has been released just days before the wreck is expected to be righted and moved on to be sold for scrap.

The last of 30 stabilising devices, known as ‘sponsons’, were attached to the wreck today and technicians are set to start testing all of the systems ahead of the final re-floating early next week.

A staircase can be seen in the haunting video footage (above), as well as the shells of shops and cafes which were once at the heart of the ship Divers entered the sunken £372million vessel after it was righted and secured in a complex operation - heralded the biggest of its kind - last September The video footage has been released just days before the wreck is expected to be righted and moved to Genoa where it will be dismantled and sold on as scrap The eerie footage shows the abandoned ship submerged in sea water and shows parts of the interior which, although damaged, is still relatively intact The footage, taken by police divers, has been released days before salvage workers attempt to re-float the 950 foot vessel and tow it to the northern Italian port of Genoa Michael Thamm, chief executive of Costa Cruises, a unit of the liner's owner Carnival Corp, said: ‘Following installation of the last sponson, we can start the countdown to re-floating and final departure of the wreck.’ A consortium including oil services group Saipem and the Genoa-based companies Mariotti and San Giorgio are all partaking in carrying out the dismantling. However, the final voyage hasn't gone without a hitch.

Greenpeace has sent its Rainbow Warrior ship to obstruct the removal of the Costa Concordia, claiming the five-day journey is fraught with danger because of the risk that toxic fluids in the wreck could leak into the marine environment. Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino denies the charges and claims he fell onto a lifeboat as the ship keeled over on the night of the disaster in January 2012 The Costa Concordia struck rocks and sank off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, killing 32 people, in 2012 Luca Lacoboni, of Greenpeace Italy, said: ‘We cannot permit another environmental disaster. ‘To drag the wreck to Genoa would mean five days at open sea. The environmental risks are enormous in terms of leaking of poisonous fluids from the ship and in terms of the structure breaking down. ‘There are nearer ports that can be reached easily and with less risks.’ Genoa beat off many other contenders including ports in Turkey and the UK to win the lucrative contract, which will provide hundreds of jobs over two years.

more videos Ali talks about traveling to Mars in newly discovered interview The last sponson has been installed on the port side of the wrecked ship ahead of its final move, which is due to be on July 10 depending on weather conditions Salvage workers will attempt to re-float the 950 foot vessel and tow it to the northern Italian port of Genoa where it will be dismantled and sold for scrap next week Greenpeace has sent its Rainbow Warrior ship to obstruct the removal of the Costa Concordia, claiming the five-day journey is fraught with danger because of the risk that toxic fluids in the wreck could leak into the sea A spokesman for Costa Cruises said technical and engineering assessments have confirmed the wreck removal plan is safe, even in severe weather conditions. 'The wreck will be towed at low speed – average of 2 knots - and will be escorted by other vessels, with equipment and specialised personnel, including a team of marine biology experts and marine mammal observers, ready to intervene should any problem arise.' Environmental safety would be the 'priority' of the wreck removal team, she said.

Organisers of the Concordia Wreck Removal Project said the last phases of the project to remove the 114,500-tonne vessel - the largest maritime salvage in history - would be revealed in further detail in the next few days. Share or comment on this article Trial begins for captain in Costa Concordia cruise disaster - CNN.com Trial begins for captain in Costa Concordia cruise disaster By Barbie Latza Nadeau. Laura Smith-Spark and Livia Borghese, CNN Updated 8:32 PM ET, Wed July 17, 2013 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino speaks with officials before his trial Wednesday in Grosseto. Story highlights The court will likely rule soon on a plea bargain request by the accused cruise ship captain Five other defendants have already asked for a separate plea bargain trial "I'm still so angry and I want justice," says a civil plaintiff who was on the ship Capt.

Francesco Schettino is accused in the deaths of 32 people on the Costa Concordia The ship captain accused of causing the deaths of 32 people in last year's Costa Concordia cruise disaster asked for a plea bargain Wednesday as his trial got under way in Italy. Francesco Schettino faces three criminal charges: involuntary manslaughter for the deaths; causing a maritime disaster; and causing personal injury to 150 people who were badly hurt in the accident. The trial, being held in Grosseto, begins a year and a half after the luxury cruise liner ran aground off the west coast of Italy. If convicted on all charges, Schettino could face a sentence of about 25 years in total. But his lawyers may argue that he serve his sentence under a form of house arrest, since there's virtually no danger of him repeating the offense. His lawyers asked for a plea bargain in exchange for a sentence of three years and five months in prison.

JUST WATCHED Incredible drone video of Costa Concordia 01:20 JUST WATCHED Costa Concordia disaster: 1 year later 03:19 JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH Costa Concordia survivor relives escape 04:40 But the prosecutor voiced his opposition to the request, which means it is almost certain to be turned down. The tribunal is expected to rule on it within a few days. A similar request was made by Schettino in May but was rejected. Four crew members and an officer for Costa Cruises who were originally co-defendants with Schettino have already asked for a plea bargain trial. Their requests will be decided Saturday. Schettino's trial was due to start last week but was postponed because lawyers involved in the case were taking part in a nationwide strike to protest measures aimed at streamlining civil trials. Night of chaos Schettino was in court with his lawyers for Wednesday's hearing, the start of a process that will be closely watched in Italy and elsewhere.

The Costa Concordia, carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, made global headlines when it turned on its side after striking rocks off the Italian island of Giglio on January 13, 2012. Read more: What cruise lines don't want you to know According to passengers' accounts, chaos ensued that night, as guests rushed to fill lifeboats and escape the shipwreck. Some crew members helped passengers and then jumped overboard, passengers said; remaining crew members seemed helpless to handle the melee. The case centers on several questions, including why it allegedly took Schettino more than an hour to issue an order to abandon ship and why he allegedly left the vessel before all passengers had abandoned it. Given the complicated nature of the case, the trial could drag on for a year or more. The prosecutor presented the court with a list of 357 witnesses Wednesday. Read more: Costa Concordia reveals its darkest secrets Running in tandem with the criminal prosecution are numerous civil suits against Schettino, which can be heard at the same time. This means more than 250 civil parties are also represented in court.

The first hearing, devoted to preliminary questions, was held in a theater to accommodate the dozen of lawyers involved. 'I want justice' Among the civil plaintiffs is Gianluca Gabrielli, who came to Grosseto for the opening hearing of the trial. "I'm still so angry and I want justice, this is why I'm here," he told CNN outside court. "It was all going well, it was the nicest holiday we ever had with the family," he said, remembering the hours before the 114,000-ton ship hit the rocks just before 10 p.m. on a winter's night. Gabrielli recalls getting into a lifeboat with his wife and the two girls, then ages 3 and 4. But the lifeboat was stuck, so the family had to climb out and struggle to the opposite site of the sliding vessel. There, they had to slip into the sea using a rope ladder, with no life jackets and holding the children in their arms. "I thought 'we'll all die,' it was all dark and cold," he said.

"I still have unjustified panic moments, even this morning during the hearing, I suddenly thought that an earthquake was coming." Massimiliano Gabrieli, one of the lawyers in a pool representing about 100 passengers, said they are seeking up to 1 million euros ($1.3 million) in compensation for each survivor of the fateful cruise. "We want this sentence to be an example, to serve as monitor so that similar accident never happen again," he said. The civil plaintiffs also include the Costa cruise line, which is suing Schettino for causing the accident and destroying its ship. However, many of the civil parties and Schettino's own lawyers argue that Costa and its parent company, Carnival, should be considered as criminal defendants in the trial. Cruise safety after the Concordia 'This is not a car accident' They suggest that responsibility for the handling of the situation after the shipwreck, including any delay in the order to abandon ship, should extend beyond the captain. But the court decided Wednesday that Costa Cruises should remain a civil party because it had suffered damage. "This is not a car accident.

I'm very disappointed that Schettino is the only defendant," Domnica Cemortan, a Moldavian dancer who was on the bridge the night of the shipwreck and is a civil plaintiff in the case, told CNN outside the court. Evidence presented to the court is likely to include conversations between Schettino and cruise line emergency officials on the night of the accident. The 32 deaths occurred during the abandonment of the ship rather than in its impact with the rocks. Meanwhile, the Costa Concordia lies half-submerged on its side on the shore of Giglio Island, rusting and rotting in the waters off Tuscany's coast. Nearly 500 workers are involved in an operation led by Titan Salvage to remove the wreck while protecting the marine environment. Titan and Costa Cruises said last week they hope to be able to rotate the vessel to a vertical position in September. They will then be able to assess whether it can be refloated and towed away.

Costa Concordia captain before disaster: 'Let's go and do this Giglio s***' - Telegraph Italy Costa Concordia captain before disaster: 'Let's go and do this Giglio s***' Captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, told his crew 'Let's go and do this Giglio s*** then' before taking the cruise liner within half a mile of island on night of disaster Several passengers have said they witnessed Capt Francesco Schettino having dinner on the night of the disaster with Domnica Cemortan, a blonde Moldovan who had worked as a passenger rep on the ship and as a dancer on other cruise vessels Photo: REX Pictures of the raising of the Costa Concordia Capt Francesco Schettino ordered his navigator to change route so that the ship passed within just a few hundred yards of Giglio, far off its designated course, a court heard on Tuesday. “Let’s get really close to Giglio, I love doing these salutes.

Let’s go and do this Giglio s***,” the captain told his crew, as the ship prepared to set out from the Italian port of Civitavecchia on the night of January 13, 2012, at the start of a week-long cruise of the Mediterranean. Audio recordings from the bridge, which were played in court, showed that Capt Schettino made the remarks at 6.27pm that evening. The wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia cruise ship begins to emerge from water. Related Articles Concordia trial: I was captain's lover, admits Moldovan dancer 29 Oct 2013 Just over three hours later, he accidentally slammed the 950ft-long cruise liner into rocks off Giglio, tearing a giant gash in the vessel’s hull, which immediately started flooding with water. The cruise ship capsized in shallow water outside the entrance to Giglio’s main harbour, with 4,200 passengers and crew having to scramble onto lifeboats or jump into the sea and swim to land. Not everyone made it – 32 people died, including a five-year-old girl.

Capt Schettino spoke in Neapolitan dialect, rather than standard Italian, when he told Simone Canessa, the ship’s navigator, to change the ship’s route. The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side during the 'parbuckling' The officer told the court in Grosseto, Tuscany, where Capt Schettino is on trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship, that he was not explicitly told the reason for the change of course. “I wasn’t directly given any information but I heard that it was to perform a salute, for the benefit of members of the crew who came from Giglio,” he said. Capt Schettino reportedly performed the sail-past to impress Antonello Tievoli, the ship’s maitre’d, who was from Giglio, and Mario Palombo, a sea captain and friend who was on the island that night and with whom he was in contact by telephone. The court also heard an audio recording of the desperate moments after the ship crashed into the rocks and the captain realised the enormity of what had happened.

As water flooded into the engine rooms and a power black-out sparked fear among the passengers dining in the ship’s restaurants, Capt Schettino called Roberto Ferrarini, the head of the crisis unit of Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based company that operated the ship. “Roberto, I took the ship past Giglio. Palombo was telling me ‘sail close, sail close’. I hit the rocks. I’m destroyed, I’m dead, don’t say anything to me.” Another witness, first mate Giovanni Iaccarino, said that the captain put his head in his hands and told the officers on the bridge: “I messed up”. Mr Iaccarino told the court on Monday that he was using his Playstation in a crewmate’s cabin when the ship hit the rocks. He rushed to the bridge, where instruments showed that the ship had lost propulsion, but was surprised at the captain’s calm demeanour. "He was completely lost," he said. "He was out of his routine mental state. He was under shock. He wasn't the person I knew." The top floor of the uprighted Costa Concordia Mr Canessa, the navigator, also said Capt Schettino showed chronic indecision as he contemplated the loss of his ship.

“I was saying to him very insistently that he needed to do something, to give the general emergency signal, but he was telling us to wait,” he told the court. “At first he gave the impression of having everything under control and initially us officers were less insistent, but then we started shouting and screaming at him to give the emergency signal.” It was only much later that the skipper gave the order to abandon ship. He also made a point of going below to change out of his captain’s uniform and into civilian clothes, allegedly in an effort to blend in with passengers when he abandoned ship before the evacuation was completed. “I saw him later and he was wearing a blue jacket,” said Mr Canessa. “He had changed out of his uniform.” As panic broke out on the bridge after the collision, Capt Schettino turned to Domnica Cemortan, a Moldovan ship's dancer whom he had had dinner with that night, and told her "You will be saved", according to Mr Canessa, the navigator. Ms Cemortan was not the only non-officer on the bridge. "There were other girls, hostesses," Mr Canessa said.

Domnica Cemortan of Moldova during the trial of Francesco Schettino in Grosseto. On Giglio, meanwhile, officials said they had found a badly decomposed body inside the hull of the ship which they said could be the remains of Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter who is one of two people still missing. False hopes have been raised before, however – two weeks ago Italian officials announced with great fanfare that they believed they had found the remains of Mr Rebello, from Mumbai, and the other missing person, Maria Grazia Trecarichi, 50, an Italian passenger. A day later they retracted that and said the remains they had found were not even human but probably belonged to an animal. Captains Uncourageous: Abandoning Ship Long Seen As A Crime : NPR The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. Its captain was accused of manslaughter and abandoning the 4,200 passengers and crew on the night of the wreck.

Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. Its captain was accused of manslaughter and abandoning the 4,200 passengers and crew on the night of the wreck. Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images Cowardice comes in many forms, but there's a special sense of shame reserved for captains who abandon ship. South Korean authorities have arrested Capt. Lee Jun-Seok, who was one of the first to flee from the ferry as it sank on Wednesday. "I can't lift my face before the passengers and family members of those missing," Lee told reporters. The incident came two years after Francesco Schettino, the captain of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia , was charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship — charges he denies. The ship ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. Has the old idea that captains should not abandon ship itself been abandoned?

"I'm kind of flummoxed that a master of a passenger ship anywhere in the world would not understand his obligation extends until that last person is safely off the ship," says Craig Allen, director of the Arctic Law & Policy Institute at the University of Washington. The Victorian notion that a captain should actually go down with the ship has become archaic. But his or her responsibility extends to executing the evacuation plan that all passenger ships are required to have and practice. Article continues after sponsorship "It comes from the tradition that the captain has ultimate responsibility and should put the care of others ahead of his own well-being in the discharge of his duties," says David Winkler, program director with the Naval Historical Foundation. Women And Children First In the middle of the 19th century, there were a number of incidents in which ships foundered and captains and their crews were either celebrated for leading the rescue or reviled for saving themselves while passengers drowned. One of the most famous involved the HMS Birkenhead , which wrecked off the coast of South Africa in 1852 while transporting British troops to war. "The captain called the men to attention," says William Fowler, a maritime historian at Northeastern University.

"They were to stand at attention on the sinking ship until the women and children — their wives and children — were led off the boats." The moment was immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as the "Birkenhead drill." Reinforced when Capt. Edward Smith went down with the Titanic , the notion that a captain must stay with his ship became part of folklore. "A lot of this is candidly still more lore than law," says Miller Shealy, a maritime law professor at the Charleston School of Law. A Breach Of Duty In the U.S., case law indicates that a ship's master must be the last person to leave and make all reasonable efforts to save everyone and everything on it. "It is not just unseemly for a captain to leave a ship," Shealy says. "In Anglo-American law, you would lose your license and make yourself liable." After Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger crash-landed a flight in the Hudson River in 2009, he twice walked the plane to make sure no one was left onboard before leaving himself. International standards for sea captains vary.

Often, as in the case of Schettino, charges are brought based not on dereliction of maritime duty but for offenses that might pertain on land as well, such as negligence and manslaughter. In 1991, Capt. Yiannis Avranas not only abandoned the Greek cruise ship Oceanos after it suffered an explosion off the coast of South Africa but cut ahead of an elderly passenger to be hoisted aloft by a helicopter. "If the master is simply looking out for himself or herself, you've breached your duty both legally and morally, to your ship, your crew and your passengers," says Allen, the University of Washington law professor. Part Of The Culture In last year's Star Trek Into Darkness, the bad guy taunts Captain Kirk by saying, "No ship should go down without her captain." The image of a captain staying with a sinking vessel has recurred again and again, in literature and real life. It remains so potent because of the almost mythic authority invested in ship captains, Allen suggests. At sea, there's no question about who's in charge, so there's no doubt who is responsible for safety. Family members of passengers on a South Korean ferry that sank look at lists of survivors on Wednesday.

Yonhap/EPA/Landov hide caption toggle caption Yonhap/EPA/Landov Family members of passengers on a South Korean ferry that sank look at lists of survivors on Wednesday. Yonhap/EPA/Landov "His duty as the highest authority available short of God himself was to make sure his crew was safe before he left the ship," says Craig Symonds, a retired Naval Academy historian. The sense that captains are beyond the law — that they are the law, or at least they were, during the age of sail — is why they make such great bad guys. "When they go bad, they're evil," Shealy says. Think of Bligh, or Queeg, or the autocratic captains who drive many of the novels and stories of Herman Melville. In Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab sets off to hunt the whale, leaving the capable Starbuck in charge. When his "death-glorious ship" sinks, Ahab mourns that he's been denied the "pride" of having gone down with her. "Ahab is a great example in the sense that he knows a captain should go down with his ship," says Wyn Kelley, a Melville scholar at MIT.

"He deeply regrets not being with his crew." Costa Concordia's Captain Schettino returns to ship - BBC News BBC News Costa Concordia's Captain Schettino returns to ship 27 February 2014 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Media captionCaptain Schettino: "The ship is the custodian of all these little secrets, the trial is still unfolding all these things" The Italian captain of the Costa Concordia ship, Francesco Schettino, has returned to the wreck for the first time as part of his manslaughter trial. The ship hit a reef near the island of Giglio in January 2012 and capsized, with the loss of 32 lives. Mr Schettino was taken to the wreck on board a small boat, two days after travelling back to Giglio. He denies the charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship, which could see him jailed for up to 20 years. He arrived on the island off the Tuscan coast on Tuesday and is said to have wept when he saw the wreck from a ferry taking him to Giglio.

Media captionHow the disaster happened He attended a health-and-safety briefing at a hotel on Thursday morning to prepare him for the short boat trip out to the wreck, on which he was accompanied by a group of court-appointed experts. Mr Schettino was taken out to the wreck on a small boat and was then seen standing on the ship itself. He was being allowed on to the ship "as a defendant, not a consultant", said Judge Giovanni Puliatti. The 290m-long vessel was righted in September 2013 in one of the largest, most complex salvage operations ever, but remains stranded after its ill-fated journey . Memories of tragedy The captain has been accused of leaving the luxury liner before the 4,229 people on board the ship were taken off. "They want to show that I am weak, just like two years ago. It's not true. I want to show I'm a gentleman, not a coward," Italian media quoted him as saying. He lambasted the media "frenzy" surrounding his return to vessel, describing those who accused him of abandoning the ship of not understanding "a bloody thing".

"There is a frenzy that is making me nervous," Mr Schettino told journalists and cameramen who surrounded him. "You have to respect civility." Correspondents say that he grew increasingly angry on the dockside after the visit, frequently gesticulating as he nervously paced around. He has already accepted some degree of responsibility, asking for forgiveness in a television interview last year as he talked of those who died. Image copyright AFP Image caption Correspondents say that the technical inspection attended by the captain focussed on a lift where several of the victims died and on an emergency generator which the defence says malfunctioned Image copyright AFP Image caption Captain Schettino could be seen (centre without a helmet) in a blue sweater standing on the wreck of the ship Image copyright AFP Image caption Captain Schettino strongly criticised the "media frenzy" surrounding his return to the stricken vessel But he denies abandoning the ship after it hit a reef near the island. He maintains he managed to steer the stricken vessel closer to shore so it did not sink in deep water where hundreds might have drowned. His lawyer Domenico Pepe said the captain's former employer, Costa Crociere, had shifted the blame towards him.

"It is very, very difficult because Schettino does not have the economic resources of Costa," he said. The firm is believed to be the biggest cruise operator in Europe, "Schettino is confronting the whole world on his own." An Italian court convicted five others of manslaughter in July 2013. They had all successfully entered plea bargains, whereas Mr Schettino's request for a plea bargain was denied by the prosecution. His return to the island will undoubtedly stir memories of the tragedy among locals, says the BBC's Alan Johnston. "Schettino's here, he cried, so what?" one woman on the island told the AFP news agency. "We're tired of this story! We want him and the boat gone." But Giuseppe Modesti, 67, told AFP: "There's no real anger here any more. Two years have passed and it's time to make peace with what happened." The complex operation to salvage the Costa Concordia took 18 hours and followed months of stabilisation and preparation work by a team of 500 engineers and divers. Ports in Italy, Britain, France, Turkey and China are now bidding for the lucrative contract to dismantle it.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The wreck sits in the harbour of Giglio Image copyright AFP Costa Concordia Captain Found Guilty in Fatal Shipwreck, Sentenced to 16 Years - ABC News ABC News Costa Concordia Captain Found Guilty in Fatal Shipwreck, Sentenced to 16 Years By ABC NEWS ROME  Feb 11, 2015, 5:26 PM ET 0 Shares WATCH Costa Concordia Captain Gets 16 Years in Prison 0 Shares Email Italian Captain Francesco Schettino was found guilty today for causing the fatal shipwreck of the Costa Concordia and sentenced to 16 years in prison, according to a three-judge panel. The verdict came after a 19-month-long trial in which Schettino, who had been accused of causing the Jan. 13, 2012 shipwreck near the Italian island of Giglio, was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship before all 4,200 passengers could be safely evacuated. As part of the sentence, Schettino will not be allowed to command a ship for five years.

Dramatic Images of the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Investigators had harshly criticized Schettino's handling of the crash before and during the trial -- accusing him of bringing the vessel too close to shore when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island, tearing a hole in its side and causing the death of 32 people. Prosecutors had requested for the maximum sentence of 26 years, but instead got 16 years and one month by the three-judge panel in the city of Grosetto, where the trial took place. Terry Moran/ABC News The Costa Concordia sits out by the breakwater in the Port of Genoa, Feb. 11, 2015. Schettino, 54, did not appear in court as a judge read the verdict. Lawyers for many of the survivors and victims' families have attached civil suits to the criminal trial as a way to press the court to order Costa Crociere, the Italian cruise company that operated the ship, to pay hefty damages. Terry Moran/ABC News The Costa Concordia sits out by the breakwater in the Port of Genoa, Feb. 11, 2015.

The judge did say Schettino and the cruise company had to pay damages and legal fees as part of the guilty, but did not go into specifics. While insisting Schettino deserves to be convicted, the plaintiffs' lawyers have lamented to the court that no one from the cruise company's upper echelons was put on trial. Andrew Medichini/AP Photo Captain Francesco Schettino walks in Giglio port after boarding the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, just off the coast of the Giglio island, Feb. 27, 2014. Prosecutors had insisted Schettino was a "reckless idiot" and asked the judges to convict him and sentence him to 26 years and three months in prison. Terry Moran/ABC News The Costa Concordia sits out by the breakwater in the Port of Genoa, Feb. 11, 2015. Four Concordia crew members and the boat's land-based crisis coordinator were allowed to plea bargain. None is serving prison time. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app.

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Question: Who was captain of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2011, who abandoned his ship?
Answer: FRANCESCO SCHETTINO